1. closely or significantly related; relevant; pertinent:
2. Obsolete. closely related.
From Vocabulary.com:
You can thank Shakespeare for the modern meaning of the adjective germane. The word originally referred to people who have the same parents. Shakespeare added the word's figurative meaning of objects being closely related or relevant when he used it in the play Hamlet.
From Wiktionary:
Variant form of german, adapted in this sense in allusions to its use in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
- Having the same mother and father; a full (brother or sister). "brother-german"
From Merriam-Webster:
Relevant, Germane, Material, Pertinent, Apposite, Applicable, Apropos mean relating to or bearing upon the matter in hand. Relevant implies a traceable, significant, logical connection. Germane may additionally imply a fitness for or appropriateness to the situation or occasion. Material implies so close a relationship that it cannot be dispensed with without serious alteration of the case. Pertinent stresses a clear and decisive relevance. Apposite suggests a felicitous relevance. Applicable suggests the fitness of bringing a general rule or principle to bear upon a particular case. Apropos suggests being both relevant and opportune.
"Wert thou a Leopard, thou wert Germane to the Lion." So wrote Shakespeare in Timon of Athens (circa 1607), using an old (and now obsolete) sense of germane meaning "closely akin." Germane derives from the Latin word germen, meaning "bud" or "sprout," which is also at the root of our verb germinate, meaning "to sprout" or "begin to develop." An early sense of germane referred specifically to children of the same parents.
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